Taco Bell Solomons Style

We had some wonderful meals in the USA and especially enjoyed Mexican food. However, Emily and Sarah have been looking forward to eating our homemade Mexican meals that we enjoy here in the Solomons. Eating Mexican food here takes quite a bit more work than in the USA.

First we start with pinto beans. We buy them at the bulk store in town. They have been in the freezer for about a week to kill off the extra ‘protein’. (weevils)


The beans are washed and then put in a pot of water that is brought to a boil. Then the heat is turned off and the beans left to soak for a while. If I plan ahead, I do this the night before I want to cook them.

After the beans have soaked and swollen a bit, the water is drained off and changed with fresh water. (This is supposed to make the beans less ‘gassy’.)


The beans are put on to cook again with lots of onions, garlic and some beef boullion. They cook and cook and cook all day and occasionally water is added to keep them from boiling dry. A pressure cooker speeds up this process, but mine isn’t working. However when our crate arrives at the end of February, I will have a new one.

When the beans are soft, we mash them with a potato masher in a cast iron skillet with a bit of oil and fry them.

Meanwhile the flour tortillas are in process. The flour is sifted for weevils. Then I mix flour, baking powder, salt, oil and water together in my Kitchenaid mixer. The dough is formed into balls and left to sit for 15 minutes.




Then the dough is rolled out into tortillas that are cooked on a cast aluminum griddle on our stove. This process works best with a couple of people working together. Tonight everyone was helping and it all went much faster. I forgot to take a picture of us eating our bean burritos, but they were tastier then Taco Bell!

Share